the numerous extensive projects which followed close upon the
completion of the Liverpool and Manchester line, and the Locomotive
triumph at Rainhill, that of a railway between London and Birmingham was
the most important. The scheme originated at the latter place in 1830.
Two committees were formed, and two plans were proposed. One was of a
line to London by way of Oxford, and the other by way of Coventry. The
simple object of the promoters of both schemes being to secure the
advantages of railway communication with the metropolis, they wisely
determined to combine their strength to secure it. They then resolved to
call George Stephenson to their aid, and requested him to advise them as
to the two schemes which were before them. After a careful examination
of the country, Mr. Stephenson reported in favour of the Coventry route,
when the Lancashire gentlemen, who were the principal subscribers to the
project, having every confidence in his judgment, supported his decision,
and the line recommended by him was adopted accordingly.

At the meeting of the promoters held at Birmingham to determine on the
appointment of the engineer for the railway, there was a strong party in
favour of associating with Mr. Stephenson a gentleman with whom he had
been brought into serious collision in the course of the Liverpool and
Manchester undertaking. When the offer was made to him that he should be
joint engineer with the other, he requested leave to retire and consider
the proposal with his son. The father was in favour of accepting it.
His struggle heretofore had been so hard that he could not bear the idea
of missing so promising an opportunity of professional advancement. But
the son, foreseeing the jealousies and heartburnings which the joint
engineership would most probably create, recommended his father to
decline the connection. George adopted the suggestion, and returning to
the Committee, he announced to them his decision; on which the promoters
decided to appoint him the engineer of the undertaking in conjunction
with his son.

This line, like the Liverpool and Manchester, was very strongly opposed,
especially by the landowners. Numerous pamphlets were published, calling
on the public to "beware of the bubbles," and holding up the promoters of
railways to ridicule. They were compared to St. John Long and similar
quacks, and pronounced fitter for Bedlam than to be left at large. The
canal proprietors, landowners,